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English Majors and Type

What's your type, English Major?

  • ENFJ

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • INFJ

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ENFP

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • INFP

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • ENTJ

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • INTJ

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • ENTP

    Votes: 1 8.3%
  • INTP

    Votes: 4 33.3%
  • ESTJ

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • INTJ

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ESTP

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ISTP

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ESFJ

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ISFJ

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ESFP

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • ISFP

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .

Little Linguist

Striving for balance
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Although I majored in political science, I'm going to be going back to school either for the summer or winter semester, and I will be doing a bilingual program in German and English if everything works the way I hope it will. Then I will get my MA in applied linguistics with a concentration in English at a German university, which should take me about three years as they do not accept my BA in full.

Later on, I might strive to get my PhD, depending on my financial situation and the job offers I have.
 

Sarcasticus

Circus Maximus
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Your poll has INTJ twice. Your likely unintentional neglect for ISTJs makes my heart a tad warmer :blush:.

I'm not an English major, but i do know an INTP and ISTJ who are.

That's what I get for rushing. I blame this damn ADD and ENTP lack of follow-through. ;)

EDIT: Interesting so far that INTP is leading the list. I will admit that I expected the NFs to run with this.
 

miss fortune

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Other than art or cooking, English is the last subject I would want to major in. From the little that I know about the subject, I am having a difficult time understanding how anyone who is interested in understanding reality could do work in 'academic English' without any great discomfort. Too often the Postmodernist dogma reigns and many ideas are reduced to 'interpretations' or 'perspective' as a result. I keep getting the impression that the whole discipline promotes the belief that what truly matters is understanding a person's viewpoint, his biases and personal opinions rather than the essence of the studied ideas. I understand that they'd retort that it is important for people to acknowledge their bias and not mistake their arbitrary opinions for facts or that complete objectivity is impossible. However, I do not see this as a sufficient excuse to ignore the pursuit of truth altogether. I am not claiming that this is what every savant of English believes, but it seems to me that many do, possibly even an average professional in the field does. That is unsurprising to me as the discipline is first and foremost an art. Just as artists can't be expected to be deeply interested in understanding the world, the literature enthusiasts should not be expected to do so either.

I'd love to have someone on the forum post a plausible argument in an attempt to refute my conclusion. For a long time I've been looking for a reason to treat this discipline with some measure of intellectual respect, yet my endeavor has been futile thus far.

and that sums up why you aren't interested doesn't it... you have to study OTHER people's opinions as well as your own :newwink:

Literature is a valid choice of things to study because by learning other people's perspectives we can better relate to/manipulate other people (the slash because I don't know WHAT people are up to with that sort of knowledge :thelook:)

English is a valid choice so that people do not write serious topics in text speak... which would probably turn our brains into pudding :sick: It also sometimes brings life to people's writing so that people will WILLINGLY read thier posts because they're pleasant to read... THERE'S a thought for ya! :laugh:

There's a difference between English and Lit which you failed to distinguish in your post :yes:
 

SolitaryWalker

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What's the difference between English and Literature?
 

miss fortune

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What's the difference between English and Literature?

English is usually used to refer to composition and professional writing (sometimes creative writing)- english is learning the mechanisms and uses of the English language (like studying Spanish or Italian!) :)

Literature is studying things written by other people and analyzing them- there's sub classifications like Women's Lit, English Lit, American Lit and so on.

The major difference is one teaches you the creating aspect- how to write and edit- while the other teaches you the analytical aspect.

These differences usually aren't set in place until college- though we had seperate comp and lit classes for AP students senior year of high school :yes:
 

SolitaryWalker

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English is usually used to refer to composition and professional writing (sometimes creative writing)- english is learning the mechanisms and uses of the English language (like studying Spanish or Italian!) :)

Literature is studying things written by other people and analyzing them- there's sub classifications like Women's Lit, English Lit, American Lit and so on.

The major difference is one teaches you the creating aspect- how to write and edit- while the other teaches you the analytical aspect.

These differences usually aren't set in place until college- though we had seperate comp and lit classes for AP students senior year of high school :yes:

In that case, I am forced to acknowledge that there is a distinction worth taking note of. However, I am getting the hunch that these are not separate disciplines but merely two parts of the same discipline. The study in question here appears to be a study of literature. One part is teaching you how to create it and the other how to interpret it. In my University, Literature classes were labelled as English classes, I don't know if the case is the same in most other colleges. Do you think the difference between English and literature is vast enough to regard them as altogether different disciplines or are they similar enough to be called two sub-disciplines of one academic study?
 

Blank

.
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I know what Solitary Walker is talking about, and you guys are giving 'em too much flak.

Look at what Salinger did because of pretentious English Lit. majors.
 

miss fortune

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In that case, I am forced to acknowledge that there is a distinction worth taking note of. However, I am getting the hunch that these are not separate disciplines but merely two parts of the same discipline. The study in question here appears to be a study of literature. One part is teaching you how to create it and the other how to interpret it. In my University, Literature classes were labelled as English classes, I don't know if the case is the same in most other colleges. Do you think the difference between English and literature is vast enough to regard them as altogether different disciplines or are they similar enough to be called two sub-disciplines of one academic study?

I think that they're distinct enough to consider them seperate disciplines- they're like Political Science and Sociology- you have to have an understanding of the other to really understand either one well :)

They're both in the English and Literature department at the University I attended but a very distinct distinction is made between the two in that field. Most colleges consider Foreign Languages and Literature to be it's own department and Spanish is definitley different than Mandarin! :shock:

I have a friend who has a degree in English Lit- this is considered a completely different degree than my sister's Creative Writing degree with a Professional Writing minor :yes:
 

miss fortune

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I know what Solitary Walker is talking about, and you guys are giving 'em too much flak.

Look at what Salinger did because of pretentious English Lit. majors.

I'm just saying you can't paint them all with the same brush :newwink:

I give flak to those who give flak :tongue:
 

Jaguar

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There's a difference between English and Lit

My degree was both. Actually, it had three parts: English/Lit/Creative Writing.
My workload was heavy compared to just the regular ENG majors.
As if that wasn't bad enough, I also have a Psychology degree.
I guess I was a masochist. :D
 

miss fortune

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My degree was both. Actually, it had three parts: English/Lit/Creative Writing.
My workload was heavy compared to just the regular ENG majors.
As if that wasn't bad enough, I also have a Psychology degree.
I guess I was a masochist. :D

That's a lot of reading and writing! :laugh:

I know my sis was so happy that she cut lit out a year ago- she said she didn't need a degree in that as well and it really added to the workload!

I went the 3 major 4 minor route... I understand the horrors of a heavy workload :doh:
 

miss fortune

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Let's put it this way, my Mom used to tease me by saying I came out of her womb with a book in my hand. :D

:doh:

yeah, you came by it honestly!

my sis spent her childhood making up stories and writing them different places (the wall was a good one :laugh:)

I just spent my time studying public opinion polls and following elections like they meant something :cry: The election of 2000 explains 2 of my degrees!
 

Little Linguist

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In that case, I am forced to acknowledge that there is a distinction worth taking note of. However, I am getting the hunch that these are not separate disciplines but merely two parts of the same discipline. The study in question here appears to be a study of literature. One part is teaching you how to create it and the other how to interpret it. In my University, Literature classes were labelled as English classes, I don't know if the case is the same in most other colleges. Do you think the difference between English and literature is vast enough to regard them as altogether different disciplines or are they similar enough to be called two sub-disciplines of one academic study?

In Germany, studying English (Sprachstudium, angewandte Sprachwissenschaft) is completely different from English Literature (Sprachstudium, Kulturwissenschaft). Although they are both language programs (Sprachstudium) they are different branches - applied linguistics (angewandte Sprachwissenschaft) and cultural studies (Kulturwissenschaft).

Then again, English is a foreign language here, so that may be the reason.

Although both are interesting, I prefer the study of applied linguistics, where I learn the mechanics of the language more than the literature aspect.

However, I will grant you one thing: Generally studies in both fields overlap insofar as you study both aspects to a certain degree (or you CAN, anyway).
 

Uytuun

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INTJ MA...combined with linguistics (and the same thing for German). Then an extra year of literary studies.
 

Synarch

Once Was
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Concentrated in medieval literature. Studied Old English. Senior seminar on Medieval Women Writers.
 

speculative

Feelin' FiNe
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I didn't vote because I got a minor, not a major, in English Writing. By getting just a minor, I was able to take more writing-focused classes and avoid the pretentious double-Norton British Literature courses. :D The only English major I knew closely in college had my roommate and I proof-read his papers Freshman year. The sentences would start at the top of one page, run onto the middle of the next page, and usually had a few commas tossed in here & there for effect. Then there was also the fact that this person wanted to be a marine biologist, not a writer/English professor, so that left us further perplexed... :D
 

SilkRoad

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INFJ, BA in English. I did Honours because I could (though I doubt it makes much difference to job prospects or whatever) but almost didn't because it involved so much literary theory, which I wasn't crazy about... Glad I did it, though.
 

sui generis

don't fence me in
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I didn't vote because I got a minor, not a major, in English Writing. By getting just a minor, I was able to take more writing-focused classes and avoid the pretentious double-Norton British Literature courses.

Same here. I took an English minor to learn how to write, not to ~read teh classics~. I had to take one of those Norton classes, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
 
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